The Push to Save the Internet Must Begin Now

“It’s the great irony of our Information Age—the very technologies that empower us to create and to build also empower those who would disrupt and destroy. And this paradox—seen and unseen—is something that we experience every day.” —President Barack Obama

Obama Has No Legitimate Authority to Give Away the Internet

The Internet was created by an act of Congress called the High Performance Computing Act of 1991 (HPCA), also known as Public Law 102-194. It is often referred to as the Gore Bill, since it was actually created by Senator Albert Gore, Jr., of Tennessee. The Gore bill was, indeed, bipartisan and was signed into law by President George H. W. Bush.

The HPCA spurred the development of many technological advances, including the Mosaic web browser and a high-speed fiber-optic computer network. The HPCA was enacted on December 9, 1991, and President Bush predicted at the time that the act would help “unlock the secrets of DNA,” as well as open up foreign markets to free trade. Indeed, the HPCA has been that important. Much of America’s wealth and prosperity has been built on the foundation of fast interaction that the Internet provides for research and development. Scholars and scientists—who once had to wait two weeks for “snail-mail” replies to come to them from overseas correspondents—can now hear back from their colleagues within a matter of minutes! The impact that the Internet has had on the creation of new knowledge and new wealth is inestimable.

The Internet has been managed by the US, according to rules of freedom and neutrality, ever since it was first made available to users. And America has maintained an equal-access stance in the running of its back-end, which issues and controls the use of Internet domain names. While different countries around the world have provided filtering of the Internet for their users, it has never been the case that this kind of filtering has occurred at the back-end.

President Barack Obama’s plan to turn over the American paid-for, American-developed Internet to the UN for purposes of managing the back-end will change all of this. The Internet, after it becomes UN property in September 2015, according to Obama’s plan, will be subject to filtering by the Chinese, the Russians, and Muslim countries that all wish to block certain kinds of content. “Let the compromising begin!” will be the call to dismantling Internet rules of freedom and neutrality. And, once the compromising begins, many businesses (such as alcohol vendors, firearms companies, R- and X-rated film merchants, etc.) will all lose their Internet sites and will suffer greatly or go out of business altogether, killing many jobs and the prosperity of many families in America and around the world.

Every kind of research will come under scrutiny. Certain types of research will be banned from any presence on the web. For example, research on new forms of birth control might be objectionable to Muslim countries, and research with regard to other technologies might be objectionable on other grounds, such as the ability for virtual-reality products to be used pornographically. Will it be allowable to sell products, such as Viagra, online? What other products might be banned online, due to reasons Americans would think silly or absurd—based on statist recipes of control by dictatorships around the globe, or according to prescriptions of Sharia Law in Muslim lands?

If nothing is done to stop Obama’s Executive Juggernaut on its way to the destruction of Internet freedom, we shall all begin to find out, in September of 2015, what is in store for us in a world without American-style Internet freedom. If valuable life-enhancing products and life-saving discoveries are, in any way, hampered by the new, unfree Internet, it will prove true that Barack Obama has not only betrayed America—but that he has betrayed all the world!

At Loggerheads with Americans

As recently as October 17, 2005, Senate Resolution 273 was passed, expressing “the sense of the Senate that the United Nations and other international organizations shall not be allowed to exercise control over the Internet.” Based upon public sentiment and the will of the sovereign states, this view of America as the proper steward to guide management of the Internet back-end has never been renegotiated. Not by Barack Obama. Not by anyone! (For the full text of this Senate Resolution, please visit the following web site:http://www.sigmaonegroup.com/3%20Internet%20Congressional%20Bill.html.)

Stopping Obama

President Obama’s plan to give away an Internet that was created by a Congressional law, and never authorized by Congress to be turned over to any party for its operation, other than the US government, is an illegal act. Of course, Obama would—out of his tin-plated delusions of self-grandeur—dispute that. But the indisputable fact remains that, once this Internet give-away is accomplished, it will prove next to impossible to undo.

Come January, the GOP-led Congress needs to pull out all the stops to prevent Obama from giving away this Crown Jewel of American Intellectual Property. The Internet was wholly developed by funds that came from US taxpayers. Thus, American taxpayers were the only stakeholders in the creation of the Internet. For Obama even to think about giving it away—just like that—is perhaps the deepest betrayal of America and Americans ever contemplated by a sitting president.

The people have resolved that control of the Internet back-end should continue to be managed by the US. And any change to the terms of the operation of the Internet would necessitate the passing of a new public law to authorize the terms under which such a change might take place. There is nothing in American law or tradition that allows President Obama to orchestrate a major change of this nature, without input from the American people. The Internet does not belong to the president, but to the American people. Of course, Obama’s plan is to turn over the Internet to the UN and then challenge the Congress to thwart his efforts, once it is already out of US hands and impossible to take back.

Americans Must Contact Their Representatives and Senators

Americans need to begin taking action now to maintain Internet control and block Obama’s back-end giveaway. Republicans need to organize, in concert with Democrats, a veto-proof majority in the Congress for a new law specifically stopping the Chief Executive from giving away the Internet by executive fiat. The Internet is such a big deal that Americans would surely vote out any scalawag that might oppose such a bill. Such an act should be legally unnecessary, but it would seem to be politically more than appropriate at this time.

The other thing to do, if Obama does not cancel his plan immediately, would be to proceed with impeachment of the president. The 67-vote majority needed to convict in the Senate would have to be secured ahead of time. Pressure should be brought to bear on Democrats with respect to their re-election prospects in 2016 and beyond. The fact that two-and-a-half dozen Democrat Senators, who voted for the president in getting Obamacare passed, are, come January 2015, all out of work; this fact should, hopefully, be of concern to Democrat Senators who remain in office. Failure to oppose Obama in this Internet giveaway might bode a similar fate for any Democrats who choose to go against the people in this matter.

Let us hope that the Democrats who still serve in the Senate will choose to support the people of the United States and not fall on their swords for Obama over this issue. After all, stranger things have happened in the past, and I am afraid there are stranger things yet in store for America in the future. Let us hope that this Internet give-away does not prove to be one of them.

The views expressed in this opinion article are solely those of their author and are not necessarily either shared or endorsed by EagleRising.com

About the author

Paul Dowling

Paul Dowling is an American patriot whose mission in life is to educate and enlighten his fellow citizens about the correct principles for facilitating a life of freedom and a culture based upon the Golden Rule, as well as to do whatever is in his power to help protect his countrymen from their government.